Lanyards ? Pros / Cons

mfm22

mfm22

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Nov 9, 2010
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I have one on small sebe .. not sure of the function , clip is right below.

Lanyards on folders ? I guess they may augment grip /handle -wrap pinky around them.

The issue is they can get in the way opening /closing .

Small fixed knives like bark river psk need a lanyard. I have one in a pocon sheath and will use lanyard to deploy.
 
I use a lanyard on every knife i own. In the Army, we called 'em 'dummy cords' 'cause when you're tired, you can tie your stuff to something else and not loose it. With my knives, they serve as something to help me get/keep a better grip, i can tie them to other things, use a 'biner to affect the same thing.

They don't weigh much and you can get used to them getting in the way if you don't need speedy deployment.

For me, a lanyard is a necessary add-on and my carry style doesn't require a pocket clip. In fact, i put a little lanyard on 1" my brass compass which lives in my pocket.
 
i have pinky lanyards on all my folders as well... sometimes they get in the way but the trade off for extra retention makes it worth it imo. my outdoor fixed blades and folders have hiviz lanyards too just in case their dropped (makes it easier to spot them lol)
 
I use small lanyards on my folders so that they dont interfere with the blade. They add some extra customization to a knife, but the main reason i like mine is to pull the knife from my pocket. I just reach down and feel for the lanyard and pull it out. Since you have a secure grip on the lanyard knot you have a low drop chance. I guess the disadvantage of this is that it slows down deployment speed. This isnt a factor for me as my knives are not for self-defense. The final benefit is that the lanyard provides a small amount of protection to the butt off the knife. Not gonna save a lot of scratches but it may help to prevent you from causing a few:)
 
I like them but I seldom use them for what they are technically designed for. I just like them for man jewelry when the folder is tip up ;) I have several that Josh K made for me that I use and move around.
 
I've taken the clips off my EDCs and have lanyards on them just so they are easier to fish out of my pocket. Also something to just fiddle with and also a spare source of cord if needed. I like the way the knives feel sans-clip and they don't snag on things in my pockets. Yeah, I don't have the quick draw of having them ride on a clip, but I really don't care about that.

On some blades they can augment grip too...look at the Boker Gnome for a really cool tiny blade where you could put a nice thick sinnet lanyard on it and go from a two finger to a four finger grip for retention.

Yet another use, in my hiking pack a Max Jumbo or similar ones, you can put a longer tail on items dropped into a vertical pouch and just have the lanyard sticking out of the pouch for easy retrieval. I just vary the knots so I know what each one is tied to. Just crack open the zipper a bit, snag the lanyard I want and out pops the flashlight.

Yet one more I've been tinkering with. I made a lanyard with just enough slack where it meets the hole in the knife so I can stick the knife IWB, bring the lanyard over the top of my jeans and tuck the lanyard under my belt. Again a thicker sinnet type lanyard end works pretty well here or say a loose bit of cord with a large ball knot, something that would snag under the belt to hold it in place. The point to this is just not having a large folder clunking around in my pocket and it's a lower profile than a shiny metal clip on an exposed pocket.
 
Anything that ends up in a sheath or a pouch gets a short loop or "ball" style(lanyard, chinese button, or monkey fist) knot hooked onto the end. Not just knives, but keys, compasses, arrow puller, etc. It's a lot easier to grab the cord and yank than it is to fish it out.
 
I sometimes like a bright orange paracord lanyard on my work knives. It helps me find them when they're dropped or misplaced.
 
I like to use CRK style lanyards on knives, so when i'm wearing heavy gloves, I can grab onto the lanyard to pull it out of my pocket.

Plus they add style.
 
I used to put them on knives because I thought they looked cool then I slowly realized that they served no functional purpose for ME so I took them off.
 
I put a fob (a short lanyard, not attached to anything else, like a belt) on my FBs that live in tight sheaths, to aid when withdrawing them. A lanyard, meaning a long(er) cord attached to your belt, or that goes around your neck as the sailors aboard sailing ships used to do, is intended to keep from losing the knife. Unfortunately, lanyards tend to get caught on things, and that can result in a very sharp blade flailing around. Kingsqueak's concept sounds very workable, though.
 
Alberta Ed said:
I put a fob (a short lanyard, not attached to anything else, like a belt) on my FBs that live in tight sheaths, to aid when withdrawing them. A lanyard, meaning a long(er) cord attached to your belt, or that goes around your neck as the sailors aboard sailing ships used to do, is intended to keep from losing the knife. Unfortunately, lanyards tend to get caught on things, and that can result in a very sharp blade flailing around. Kingsqueak's concept sounds very workable, though.
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Good point of clarification. In my experience here people use the term lanyard interchangeably to mean fob as well.
 
I have lanyards on all my knives . I dont use them alot but I do use them. Example : running trot lines or cutting bait ,any time I dont want to drop my knife from my hand or into water . doing things where I am using two hands but dont want to keep laying my knife down. I use a simple loop big enough to put my hand through and hold the handle of the knife without any pull.
 
Alberta Ed said:
I put a fob (a short lanyard, not attached to anything else, like a belt) on my FBs that live in tight sheaths, to aid when withdrawing them. A lanyard, meaning a long(er) cord attached to your belt, or that goes around your neck as the sailors aboard sailing ships used to do, is intended to keep from losing the knife. Unfortunately, lanyards tend to get caught on things, and that can result in a very sharp blade flailing around. Kingsqueak's concept sounds very workable, though.
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Interesting - thanks for pointing out the difference. I usually use 'lanyard' to mean either or....

I guess I use fobs on my knives, then.
 
I have a lanyard on my EDC Small Seb (which, of course, is tip up) -- it makes it easier to deploy the knife b/c I can grab the lanyard with my pinkie and ring fingers w/o putting my hand in the pocket. Lanyards on tip down knives don't have a purpose, other than aesthetics, IMHO.
 
Fob or lanyard? Get both.

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dantzk.
 
I don't think there's really any cons, as long as the lanyard isn't too long. I really like the look of the lanyard on the Scott Cook Lochsa

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See this pic...the square 'fob' is a sinnet knot. That's what I was referring to with the IWB thing I've been playing with. Picture that knife inside the waistband with the fob flipped over the outside over the pants, but inside the belt. Even better, that fob with a large knot on the end to snag the belt.

You could use something thinner like the noose knot with a large knot on the end too, make it easier to slip between the belt and pants.

dantzk8 said:
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I tried them on most of my knives but decided that they just get in the way most of the time so I took them off. I made some pretty fancy ones too using square stitching, button knots, etc. I found that the knives that really could benefit from the added grip that a lanyard provides were the smaller ones. But the smaller ones I don't use hard so I really didn't need the extra grip length anywyays. The only knife I still have a lanyard on is my Becker BK-2 and that is a simple loop so that it doesn't get away from me while chopping.
 
link2derek said:
I have a lanyard on my EDC Small Seb (which, of course, is tip up) -- it makes it easier to deploy the knife b/c I can grab the lanyard with my pinkie and ring fingers w/o putting my hand in the pocket.
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Same for me. I lost the lanyard on my small Sebenza for a few days recently and I cursed every time I had to pull the knife out of my pocket. Once you get used to that little chunk of paracord, you become spoiled.
 
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